Embracing Summertime

Happy Monday! We had such a full and fun day of summery activities: camp, pool, 2x soccer. The heat has finally arrived in Virginia! I started the day with hot coffee and a tropical fruit smoothie made with Quaker oats and Vega Coconut Almond.

I took Mazen to camp and came back home for a few hours of work. I decided to skip strength class, which I have been missing a lot lately. It’s an hour-long class and adding in 15 minutes of travel and social time on each end, it’s quite the time committment. I’ve been choosing to work while Mazen is in school and getting activity whenever I can, and that worked well today! See below 🙂 Work-wise I finished a post for next week, and sorted through a bunch of emails and things that had piled up over the weekend.

I had a piece of leftover salmon and cabbage for lunch.

MY OTHER RECIPES

And some cherries for dessert!

After lunch and before camp pick-up time, I went to the pool and swam laps for 15 minutes. Getting in that activity wherever I can!

You should have seen his face when I picked him up and said “We’re going straight to the pool!”

We played and played in the water, both wearing goggles so we could practice going under water!

After the pool, we changed into dry clothes and stopped into the grocery store for weekly provisions.

We had a quick snack at home, and Mazen almost fell asleep at the table. But we rallied and headed out for soccer practice. It was really just kids pick-up organized by our neighbors, but Mazen took it seriously! I actually think playing keep-away from 5-7 year olds is good practice for me too, so I enjoyed running around!

We stayed at the field because Thomas’s team had a game there right after. We packed our beach chairs and Thomas brought us a little picnic dinner in a cooler. The opposing team only had 6/8 players, so I joined them for most of the game and played against Thomas! Mazen cheered us both on.

I ended up burning 875 calories today staying as active as I could outside. Not bad for nothing official!

Since I didn’t eat my sandwich at the field, I had it for dinner when I got home (turkey + havarti + pickle) plus some leftover roasted squash and a Shower Beer!!! Shower Beer is the BEST after soccer.

This post makes me so antsy for our pools to finally open up north! It’s been 90s all week but New Engliand is silly and thinks pools should open late June. :/. I love Maxen’s soccer shirt! Are you all Turkish team fans? 🙂 My family is Turkish and love the Galatta Serail team from istanbul. 🙂

Mazen is adorable! I love this age (though the kids get even more fun as they get older). Soon you guys can be on a soccer team together!

I was wondering if you have tried early morning exercise? I work full time and have two kids, so often I end up getting up by 4:30 or so and trying to get a run in then. That way I can get to work and be home by 5 to get dinner together. I don’t love the lack of sleep but doing something for myself before everyone is awake does set up my day well. Luckily my husband is not an early waker 🙂 Maybe Thomas and Mazen can sleep in while you get your self-care activity in?

We still have two more weeks of school here so I am loving seeing what summer will have in store for us!

I used to do a lot more of that! When I worked full time, I was a 5am exerciser every single day because I had no energy after work. And the past few years, especially in the summer, I used to go to more of the 6am classes at ACAC. Thomas has stayed home with Mazen while I’ve gone to a few. But since Mazen is so easy to exercise with now, I’d rather get the sleep and then workout during my day if I have the choice.

Looks like a perfect summer day! I love that you stayed active and got in a “workout” without actually doing an official workout at the gym… I like the idea that staying active throughout the day can keep you fit and healthy!